Posted on 01/06/2004 8:09:24 AM PST by Starwind
Layoffs at U.S. firms ease in December - report
Tuesday January 6, 10:01 am ET
NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Job cuts announced by U.S. employers fell modestly in December, a report said on Tuesday, and for the whole of 2003 they were 16 percent below 2002.
Planned layoffs at U.S. companies fell to 93,020 in December from 99,452 in November, job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. said in its monthly report. For 2003, job cuts declined to 1,236,426 from 1,466,823.
"The decline in job cuts is certainly welcome news, but it is difficult to get too excited about a year in which more than 1.2 million people fell victim to downsizing," said John Challenger, the company's chief executive officer.
For the first time in three years, layoffs in the government and nonprofit sectors in 2003 outpaced job cuts in the telecommunications sector, it said.
Economists anticipate that the December U.S. employment report due on Friday will show that 130,000 non-farm jobs were added and that the unemployment rate stayed at 5.9 percent.
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41 | New Mexico | 50.00 |
1 |
50.00 |
96 |
0.52 |
50.00 |
3 |
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Anyone know what area of government is laying off? (Just curious, I know a fair number of people who seem to think that the government is the future of steady employment in America.)
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